border As natural as the rain (Return)

[Badgermoon]

Badgermoon was painfully aware that his continued existence had been dependent on another's mercy, and that his future lay in the paws of someone who may view him as a traitor of the worst kind. If these facts had been true for only himself, perhaps he could've lived with - had he not made mistakes? Had he not earned the terror of fleeing his home, the shame of groveling before Blazestar, the hardship of surviving through leaf-bare without a Clan to support him? Yes, he felt he had. But it was not only himself who was suffering: it was Curlewnose, too, and that was unacceptable. Of course, Badgermoon couldn't pretend that securing a happier, more comfortable life for his...companion...was the only reason they now trekked slowly to the moorland which he had so often dreamt of. He had missed WindClan with every breath of foreign SkyClan- or Twolegplace-scented air, had needed to come home but been agonizingly aware that his home had been taken from him. So hidden away they had stayed, slinking in the shadows and living off of scraps. Often he had thought about returning, charging into the hollow and proclaiming his innocence, declaring Sootstar's treachery, her deceit, her disrespect of StarClan and her attempt to kill Curlewnose.

But...the images of his children, bloodied and beaten, kept intruding on those heroic fantasies. Besides, who would believe him instead of her? Only after breaking free did he realize what a chokehold the she-cat held on her Clan, the violence with which she gripped their minds and hearts. It would have been a slaughter: first of him, then of his family. He would be lucky if he had a family left. Besides, they had had other reasons for staying away: the gift Sootstar had left her faithful tunneler with - an ugly, crusted scar on his neck, in the precise shape of the tyrant's jaws - had not done well in their medicine-cat-less lifestyle. Atrophy from being kept in a pit, lack of food, the foul tendrils of infection...Curlewnose's healing process had been slow and painful, with many ups and downs, with no herbs to help him through. Curlewnose could not have made the trip and survived, and they had both known that he could not be left alone, either. Wounded as he was, he was essentially helpless in that place, without Badgermoon to protect him. He had lost almost everything: he refused to lose the only cat he had ever known who filled his heart so completely.

So a life lived in the dirty corners of the Twoleg world it would have to be. Better than living in a dirt pit in SkyClan's camp, and better than being torn to shreds by his Clanmates. He had almost resigned himself to his future as a malnourished, asphalt-scented rogue, a foolish, crumbling man who used his memories like a crutch and fantasized about a life he could never again have. But then something unexpected happened. A rogue - a long time resident of the Twolegplace, well-versed in its rhythms and conflicts, with whom they had tentatively allied themselves - had informed him of a rumor he had heard: Sootstar had been chased out, deposed. The Queen of the Moors was no longer. There had been some sort of uprising, a rebellion, and now ... she was gone. It was an incredible idea - Badgermoon had truly thought she would reign for years and years, or until the Clans drowned in blood she chose to spill and there was no one left to use as puppets in her delusional schemes. But if there was even the slightest chance that they could go home...that he could see his children again...his friends...

"Take it easy." the black-and-white tomcat murmured to his companion as they drew nearer to the border with which they were so familiar. Curlewnose had recovered enough to make the journey, so long as they took it in stages; now, on the third and final leg of their trek, WindClan's land lay rolling out like the richest tapestry. It beckoned: it called to him, in a voice that felt like it came from his own marrow. Snow crunched under their paws as they came to a stop, and Badgermoon propped one broad shoulder up against the tunneler, unable to ignore the spike of sorrow at just how light the other tom's weight on him was. Their time in exile had turned a skinny but healthy creature into something just shy of skeletal, with dull eyes and a haggard coat. Badgermoon himself hardly looked better: he just had had more muscle and fat to burn through in the first place, and had not suffered quite so grievous an injury. "Never thought we'd be here." he said softly, so quietly that perhaps it was meant only for himself. Whether he meant here as in returning to WindClan, or here as in having ever left in the first place was unclear. Either way, the words fell like snowflakes into the evening air, and Badgermoon fell silent.

What could they do but wait?

---

OOC: @curlewnose - but no need to wait for him to respond! Just as a note, Rev has agreed that Badger and Curlew will be allowed to rejoin, but of course characters need to learn what happened ICly, so don't worry about asking questions or being initially surprised or hostile! I'm so excited to be back <3​

 

[Periwinklebreeze.]

OH, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE SOMEONE ━
THAT EVERYBODY HAS TO TALK TO━​

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periwinklebreeze ❀ 19 moons ❀ demi-boy ❀ windclan lead warrior ​

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It's not even the first time Peri has stumbled across such a sight while patrolling the borders, but it's certainly no less shocking than before. Badgermoon and Curlewnose, of all the cats, stand upon their territory - looking worse for wear, not unlike sedgepounce just days before. Could starclan really be gathering them all up, all the souls lost to sootstars trinary, and guiding them all back home? Periwinklebreeze thinks they just might.

" B-badgermoon - Curlew-, " voice trails of for a moment while jaw stutters, tail flicking irritably at the slip up. There is warmth in his voice despite his best efforts - he knows these cats, knows they were chased off for attacking Sootstar. He finds their exact reasoning for doing so hardly matters - seeing the truth of her insanity or just a simple power struggle, he'd like to think they are good.

But there is none of the reverential tone that he'd once carried - they are no longer of windclan, and he is no longer the same scared boy he'd once been. Sunstar has made the choice to trust him, of all cats, with the responsibilities of lead warrior - and foolish though the choice may have been, he is going to fight tooth and claw to make sure it is one that the newly named leader will not come to regret. " Y-you're back, " he says simply, waiting for either an explanation or for the rest of those with him to catch up. Someone will have to fetch sunstar again... or else escort them back to camp, at the very least.

━ actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes' ━

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━H E━H AD━N O━O N E━T H A T━H E━C O U L D━T A L K━T O━

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[SNAKEHISS]

It seemed as if the fall of the Moor Queen had cast a spell upon the land, willing every outcast and lost soul to arrive upon WindClan's borders once more. Sedgepounce had come out of the woodwork, battered but alive. Who would be next? His father?

Then, as Snakehiss walks the borderlands with his NPC chaperone, he sees them. Almost unrecognizable are they, the builds of warriors stripped down to flesh and bone, but once it registers in Snakehiss' mind he freezes. Never in a hundred seasons would he have expected to see his former mentor standing before him again.

"Badgermoon, He hisses in disbelief. Hostility does not accompany his tone nor his demeanor; only astonishment. Snakehiss had thought Badgermoon ( as well as Curlewnose ) to be either dead or off roaming distant lands, never again to see the clans. They stunk of a foreign place, grimy and murky. The very sight of them was harrowing—gutting—especially as he was reminded of how long it's been. How much had happened since then. Snakehiss has changed too, with multiple scars marring his form and plenty of mental scarring to boot.

His gut churns with uncertainty, tension wracking his shoulders as he is rendered as still as a coiled adder. Were these the same cats that they knew? Or... would they have to chase them away?

₊ ⋆ * ⊹ ₊ ☾ —— 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙟𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨

•  

• 

• 
  ₊ ⋆ * ⊹ ₊ ☾
  snakehiss
  

  — he/him; moor runner of windclan
  — long-limbed black tom with green eyes, a small white chest patch, and multiple scars
  — "speech", thoughts, attack
  — link to full tags; @ on discord or dm @beaaats for plots!​

​

 

[SUNSTAR]

Before him stands a wraith, and his body reacts somewhere between fear and rage– his hackles rising, his shoulders stiffening. Though his spine does not arch and his ears do not pin, the wisdom StarClan had granted him still momentarily flees. He was Sunstride again, a rogue, an outsider, desperate to prove himself. He is jealous in a way he does not admit. Of how effortlessly Badgermoon had been trusted. And once he had proven himself a traitor, and Sootstar's attention fell upon him. . . he had not stopped to wonder about the truth. How could he have, when her word was his truth?

That this cat stands before him once more is a stark reminder of how wrong he had been. So too is he a threat to WindClan's new era of peace in a way that the tom cannot describe. Their ghosts have a way of coming back to face them. While others had been joyous reunions of disbelief and hope, this is one that Sunstar does not wish to face. How many moons had he wondered, in the back of his mind, what became of them? How long had he thought them traitors, reckless, forsaking their clan and their kin for what could not last? Sootstar had been too careful, and Badgermoon too distant, for whatever he did to the moor clan's founder to catch like wildfire. A matter of timing, he is sure.

She had a way of turning against her deputies, it would seem. And a way of living that made her deputies turn from her. The black and white warrior may not know it, but the three of them stand in a trio. Badgermoon, Sunstride, and Snakehiss. His gaze drifts from the haunting pair to Snakehiss, and he finds that his prideful animosity towards him fades in the presence of his mentor. A young cat, foolish as he had been when he fled the mountains. It is hard to hate the cat who had stood as his replacement when he now stands as the replacement himself, before Badgermoon.

Would he speak out against Sunstar's place ahead of this clan? In another time, it would have been him. Badgerstar. Whether they followed Sootstar to her end or rebelled in a different way, it may have been him. Perhaps a small part of his mind tells him it should have been, even as the larger part roars with jealous pride: you are the one who finished this. The gift of a new rebirth was a path paved by many, many paws. And even now he cannot deny that one of those to tread it had been Badgermoon in the moment of his betrayal. Was it enough to see him returned to his place amidst the moor grass? "You did not die — either of you." There's a lingering shock on his tongue and in his words.

⋆°•☁︎ 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝗕𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃  ╱╱ 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝗕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝗕𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 〚 02.11.2024 〛 𖤓

• OOC. —
• 

  SUNSTAR. LEADER OF WINDCLAN.   ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆
  ——– HE – HIM – HIS ╱╱ 48+ MOONS OLD, ADULT.

  NPC x NPC, MOUNTAIN CATS. MATE TO WOLFSONG; FATHER TO BEARPAW, SINGEDPAW, RIVEPAW, SUNLITPAW AND FEATHERPAW. MENTORING RIVEPAW.
  
  TH ╱╱ A LARGE, FRESHLY SCARRED CHOCOLATE AND WHITE ROSETTE TABBY TOM WITH SEAGLASS BLUE EYES

• "speech"

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[Badgermoon]

Hardness had entered into Badgermoon's eyes in a way that had never been there before. Months of living on the edge, the pain of being separated from his home and his kin - they had taken their toll on the affable tomcat. And yet...the moment Periwinklebreeze came into view, his yellow eyes softened like the gentle kiss of dawn, slowly moving up and down the familiar pointed limbs. A torrent of feelings rushed through him at the sight of the lead warrior - surprise, gratitude, fear, affection, pride, shame...they held him by the throat for a few long moments as he stared openmouthed at the young WindClanner he had once considered a friend. They had not been close, no, and his role as Sootstar's second-in-command had sometimes put them at odds...but here he was. Staring at them with a level expression, speaking to them with .. was that a note of friendliness?

"Peri." Badgermoon finally found his words and bowed his head, letting his shoulders sag as Periwinklebreeze stated the obvious - but impossible to overemphasize - truth: they were back. "Yes. I - we - heard that...that...she was gone. That it would be safe to return." it wasn't as if the "she" in question needed identifying, now did it? And surely they would not be spoken to in such a manner, surely they would not be allowed to stand on this border and speak in a civil manner, if Sootstar still clung to power, leechlike in the way she suckled on the vitality of honest cats. "Is it...it's true, isn't it? She's..." the black-and-white cat trailed off, his desperate gaze unmoving from Periwinklebreeze's face, inscribing the point's elegant, shadow-dipped limbs, his thoughtful, wary face, into his memory. Just in case this was a fluke, just in case this was some sort of ambush, just in case...they never got another chance. He wanted to remember everything, to drink in every scrap of this place he could before he lost it again.

If Snakehiss was surprised to see Badgermoon, he was in good company: though he should have expected that he would encounter his former apprentice, it was still somehow difficult to believe that he was there, in the flesh. "Snakehiss." It was more of an exhale than anything else, as yellow eyes took in the state of the lanky, dark-furred warrior. There was deep fondness in his sorrowful, careworn face, surprising even himself. But he had always cared for Snakehiss, perhaps more than his attitude warranted. He's grown. thought Badgermoon, somewhere beneath the surging sea of emotions he now felt. Picked up some new scars, too. Then again...so have I. "Please, tell me - wha - " but he said no more, because, coming into view like the radiant furnace of a sunrise...Sunstride. His Clanmate, his friend, his colleague. Once. Now...now, nothing more nor less than the man who held his and his companion's lives in his paws. He stared at the rosette-coated king, a view which soon became hazy as his eyes misted with tears. You did not die. Was that disappointment? An intention to change that state of affairs? Perhaps relief?

"No. Nearly...but no. But...you did it. Didn't you? You did it. You - " - you saved us, you freed the moorland, you vanquished the tyrant, you returned StarClan's favor to us...where to start? Where to end? Badgermoon slumped into himself like a collapsing structure - not like a man defeated, but like Atlas relieved of his burden. The bicolor tom hung his head for several long moments, staring at his own dirty, speckled paws through a thick, salty film of tears. Then he lifted his head and tried to meet Sunstar's eyes. There was purest relief, joy, gratitude, awe, and amazement there, for he was seeing a legend in the flesh. His friend, Sunstride - he of the flaming pelt and the silver tongue - he had done what Badgermoon had not, could not. He had found his moment, picked his allies, made his move...and he had done it. "Thank you." it came out as a whisper.​

 

[SOOTSPOT]

He had been convinced of a WindClan that would not care for him after his mother had gone, an omen that he did not need to be a Medicine Cat to see when the writing was on the wall. The black-and-white figure should've been treated with animosity, an enemy who had failed WindClan as its Deputy, and refused the call as its largest rebel. Instead, there was warmth in his clanmates, warmth and acceptance, an old friend reunited at least - nausea crept into his belly as he recalled just what this cat had done to his family, by extension, to him. Badgermoon had ruined him, ruined what little trust he had left in others, now, he was rewarded for it, he was still allowed to breathe by cats who had followed in his example. When the tuxedo dipped his head, expressed gratitude to Sunstar, all Sootspot could see was a rabid dog seeking the power it once had; the mirror made him see red. Sootspot stepped forward, angry as he had been at his last gathering. "I am sure the dozens dead are grateful for your gratitude when your presence could have saved them."

Sootspot's words were always deliberate, seeking to gain ire or attention or affection or anything that he wanted. There was always a pause, always a consideration, always time to consider if it was worth speaking. It was absent here - his sneer was the most natural thing he'd shown in moons, his lashing tail brought the promise of unforgotten grudges (of unhealed trauma). "The mind does wonder.... it is convenient you show up only when the fighting is done." A new scar was on Sootspot's chest, absent in Badgermoon's time, that told of a rank, once earned, now lost - but in ignorance, there was power, he doubted the other would know that he had given it up to preserve his own life. It was a fact that brought more and more shame to the chimera when he saw how twisted WindClan had already become. Too many rogues, too many traitors from the times before the final battle, too many second chances to dangerous cats that held no value to him. He'd been forced to risk his life for a cause he didn't believe in, Badgermoon was allowed to hide in complete comfort until the fighting was over.

Stars above did he want to see the other torn apart by the very cats that had done the same to his mother. It wasn't fair. Shrikethorn was dead, he'd been banned from seeing his mother before her death, his apprentice had been taken away from him - he'd done everything right by new WindClan's standards, so why did they do him so wrong? Unsheathed claws promised a battle that he would not engage in, even as fire burned in his belly, he would not fight a creature that was twice his size. 'StarClan cursed my bones this way... to make me powerless as StarClan's vigilantes pillage my home for everything it is worth.' He corrected himself before an 'I' ever reached his maw again, he couldn't make it about himself, no matter how much he deserved justice. He stepped forwards once more, teeth bared, lips curled, fear rolling off of his scent, not due to the ex-Deputy himself, but because of the memories associated with him - the things his mother said after him and his partner fled. "An apology would be more appropriate than a 'thank you', let those killed by your cowardice hear your pathetic sorries, let their silence be the guilt that pierces your black heart once and for all."


​

 

[RATTLEHEART]

AS HE RAISED HIS FIST BEFORE HE SPOKE — "Enough, Sootspot."

The words of the lead warrior were shockingly cold as he approached, thought the frigidness of his tone wasn't truly because of the tunneler himself. Though his snarling certainly could have been saved for a better time, Rattleheart knew that wasn't the only thing bothering him. There was a raging torrent of emotions in his gut as he approached and laid his eyes upon the former deputy and his companion. A storm whipped only further into frenzy as he thought about how the father of his niblings had disappeared. How so many eyes had turned on Scorchstreak and her children in that moment, wondering if they would end up as traitors as well. It was enough to fill the lead warrior with fury, though even through his anger he attempted to keep a level head. To act as a voice of reason though his heart wanted to spit and snarl and curse along with Sootspot.

That wouldn't really be fair though, would it? Not when they had all been manipulated by Sootstar. Not when it was very likely none of them had the full story of what had gone on.

So instead he sunk his claws into the dirt, focusing his indignation into the churning motion beneath his paws as he forced air back into his lungs. "He and Curlewnose hardly look like they're in a state to walk, let alone fight. It... it makes sense that they would appear now." His hoarse voice sounded foreign to his own ears for a moment - was he trying to rationalize their actions for Sootspot, or for himself? Rattleheart truly did feel sympathy for the state that the both of them were in, yet he found that he still couldn't welcome them in with open arms. He found that he couldn't force warmth into his words, even as he spoke out in their defense. He desperately wished that Scorchstreak was present, knowing that his sister's voice alongside his own would bring some kind of comfort, and confidence.

Though the thought also made him hesitate - did he really want Scorchstreak present, after how much she had been hurt by all that had happened?

Another pawstep brought him forward - enough that he could look the both of them over, and truly see what had been left of them after Sootstar's declaration of betrayal. "You heard right. Soot is dead, and her influence on Windclan is gone. It took several hard fought battles, but she isn't our leader anymore. Sunstar is." He gestured with his head towards the already present coat of golds and reds, grateful that their new leader was at least present to hear whatever explanation the pair had to offer. "Now, what... what..." Anxiety and despair alike were ripping at his gut as he tried to speak - tried to articulate what he wanted to know. He found that it was hard to force the words past the roughness of his throat, focused in equal measure on the fact that they had probably been lied to and the fact that this tom had still hurt his sister dearly. Had still run away. "What about you? What happened? She told us that you were a traitor. That you attacked her and needed to be driven out. You and Curlewnose both. But what actually happened? She was lying, right? You..." It was almost hard to breathe. When was the last time he had felt so frantic? So desperate for something to be true?

He was practically digging a new tunnel in the earth with the frantic churning of his claws, taking a step back so that he once again felt like he had air to breathe. Like he wasn't on the verge of tumbling into the gorge itself. His voice was softer then, kinder though still tinged with apprehension. "Please. Tell me that you didn't just abandon my sister and her children. Tell me it was all a lie." That was what he needed to hear after everything that had happened. Rattleheart was eager for it, especially after the loss of Rumblerain that still felt like a gaping wound in his heart. At least some solace could be taken in if Badgermoon hadn't just left them all behind. If Rumblerain had been further mislead by Sootstar's lies, instead of being further forced astray by the actions of his father.

THE RIGHTEOUS HAND OF GOD 𓆩♡𓆪 THE DEVIL THAT YOU FORGOT

• 

• 
  ❥ longhaired black and white tom with pale green eyes
  ❥ 48 moons old; ages the 1st every month
  ❥ afab; uses he/she/they pronouns
  ❥ homosexual homoromantic; mated to venomstrike
  ❥ sibling to scorchstreak, lizardbounce, and rabbitclaw
  ❥ currently mentoring downypaw
  ❥ somewhat difficult to befriend; wary but kind
  ❥ "speech", thoughts, attacking
  ❥ peaceful powerplay allowed
  ❥ all opinions are ic

​

 

[Badgermoon]

In the distance, for a moment, he thought he saw her. A gray coat, small frame, sickening green eyes...Badgermoon's heart, already thunderous, seized for a few painful seconds, until he realized who he was looking at. Sootspot: named for his mother, and resembling her, too, in looks and in personality. Badgermoon had never been particularly close with either of Sootstar's older children, nor had he held any particular dislike of them. Once upon a time, he viewed them with pleasure and pride, WindClan's finest sons and daughters. Now...well, the temptation to judge them for their parentage tugged at his mind, but truly...who was he to judge any of them? Had he not been Sootstar's foremost loyalist, until her true nature finally revealed itself in a way he could no longer ignore?

Moon-yellow eyes tracked the tunneler as he approached and widened slightly as his tirade began, and Badgermoon listened in silence as the small tomcat spat, each sentence heavy with accusation and...hatred? Was that what he heard? The weary tom took one small step, positioning himself in front of Curlewnose as Sootspot unsheathed his claws and stepped forward. He could smell the younger warrior's fear and see the flash of his fangs, matching the whiteness of the snow around them. The sight was just as cold as the leaf-bare breeze. He noticed, too, the scar on his chest, and he wondered - wondered at what the tricolor cat had gone through, what highs and lows he'd experienced. "Sootspot." he murmured. "I am sorry about your mother. I am sure it was hard to lose her."

He had nothing else to say to Sootspot, and moreover, a WindClanner he had a closer connection to was now at the border: Rattleheart. Badgermoon drank in the lead warrior's words with blatant hunger, audibly shuddering as Rattleheart proclaimed WindClan free of its tyrant. "Thank StarClan." he breathed, but kept quiet otherwise, watching as his children's uncle became more and more agitated. The damage being done to the frozen ground bespoke to Rattleheart's turmoil, and Badgermoon found that he ached with sympathy and sorrow for the cat he held no small amount of fondness for. How often had he thought of how strongly his family would despise him? It had been a certainty that Sootstar would tell some lie or another about what had happened, and now here it was: that they had attacked her.

"I would never leave them." Badgermoon said at last, trying to meet Rattleheart's gaze. His voice was forceful, though not angry: he was glad Rattleheart was asking. He was desperate to clear his name, and Curlewnose's. Desperate to do whatever he could to knit the tattered threads of his family back together. "I saw Soot do something that...that troubled me greatly. I wasn't sure, exactly, what had happened...so I wanted to speak to her about it. I told Curlew first..." he glanced down at the blue point, finding solace in his warm gaze; he took strength from his companion's encouraging expression and kept going. "...I wanted to know what someone else thought. Someone I trusted, who knew me, who cared about WindClan. He thought...well, it bothered him, too. So, I decided I'd speak to her about it in private, but I'd bring Curlew with me. Just so that...I don't know, she knew a tunneler was concerned, too. So she knew that I wasn't trying to do anything...untoward."

How easy it would've been to construe the entire situation as a coup attempt. Badgermoon felt it was almost laughable, now. What a fool he had been. Then again...looking back, what else could he have done? How could he have been seen as anything but a power-hungry second-in-command, tired of waiting for his time in the spotlight? "I told her that I had seen what she'd done. She...she tried to tell me it didn't happen. She lied. I...I didn't let her lie to me. I told her that I knew what I'd seen, that...that things were making sense. The lightning strike. The 'traitors' she so regularly had to chase out. Our troubles with keeping a medicine cat..." he thought back to encountering Dandelionwish in SkyClan, how much the former healer had loathed him. How Badgermoon wished he'd understood what Dandelion had known, so many moons ago. He shook his head and kept going.

"You all know how she was, now. You...you understand. But...she refused to see reason, she refused to be honest. She didn't have any excuse for what she'd done. She..." the black-and-white tom lifted a paw and, with the gentleness of a feather on the breeze, brushed against the ugly, gnarled scar on Curlewnose's neck. For the first time, anger shone on Badgermoon's face, a brief glimpse of absolute hatred, enough rage to fuel a berserker. "She did this to him. She tried to kill him. For...for nothing. For standing by me, for caring about his Clan. For not being willing to accept her lie." he stared, hard, at Rattleheart, beseeching him with his eyes to understand the depth of Soot's depravity. "All we did was talk to her, and she tried to kill him." he swallowed. "If it had just been...what I'd seen...none of this would have happened. I would've let it go. I...I was loyal enough to her that if she'd told me some story, if she'd had an excuse...if she'd let us walk away..." but she hadn't. She'd lied, and then she'd lashed out. She'd confirmed his deepest, darkest fears in that moment: puncturing with a squeeze of her jaws not just Curlew's throat, but his whole world.

"I shoved her away from him, and then..." he shook his head. "I thought about attacking her, about...about ending it all. But she had more lives...and, and what if I'd won? What if I'd killed her? I couldn't prove anything. The whole Clan would've...would've torn me apart. They would've just seen...Badgermoon, the deputy with an anger problem, and Soot's dead body. Someone couldn't wait any longer his turn on the Tallrock. We all believed in her. I...I didn't know what to do. My children, she would hurt my children - maybe the Clan would kill them, too. I...we ran. Curlew was bleeding...bubbling...there was nothing else I could think to do." Badgermoon paused, his throat scratching as he swallowed again. This was more talking than he'd done in moons, and the strain of their journey here and all the preceding time weighed on him. But their story was not yet done. So he kept going.

"We went to SkyClan. We figured...their borders are the most open. They were the most likely to take pity on us. They might...put cobwebs on our wounds, give us somewhere to hide out. And...they hated Soot, too." a bitter smile darted, harelike, across his face. "They took us in, put us in a pit in their camp." Badgermoon remembered those days too well: the omnipresent reek of pine, the lurid garb of the kittypet-warriors, the slow atrophying of his muscles..."After a while, Blazestar agreed to let us go if we told him what we knew about Soot. About her personality, her ideals, her weaknesses...anything we could. He didn't want us around, anyway...didn't want to bother feeding us. And with the yellowcough..." he shrugged. "It made more sense to kick us loose. So we went to the Twolegplace, because...if we went home, surely we'd be killed on sight. And we were weak, desperately so. I had fantasies of defeating the tyrant, killing the monster...saving my home. Seeing my family again." but those had never happened, had they? You couldn't do it. noted an icy voice in his head.

"So we scraped by. Curlew...took a turn for the worse. We thought he might not make it, for a while. I don't know anything about herbs, about healing...his neck got infected, and the Twolegplace is full of rats and rogues who'll cut your throat for a mouse-bone. I couldn't leave him, and he couldn't travel. And what would we even travel for? To march up to the border and get cut into tiny pieces by our Clanmates?" Badgermoon let out the softest of sighs, staring at his speckled paws with unseeing eyes. The telling of their story was more taxing than he had anticipated. "But, a few sunrises ago, a rogue we knew told us about some sort of uprising that had happened on the moorland. That the Clan cats there had risen up and thrown their leader out, or something. He knew we were from there...thought we might want to know. Curlew was feeling a little better...and I needed to see if it was true. I needed to know if...if we could come home. If my children were safe. If...if she was really gone." Finally, the tale was told, and he was glad for it, as he had little else to give.​

 

[curlewnose]

"take back all the days that you lost"​

Curlewnose watched through bleary eyes as Windclanners gathered to take his and Badgermoon’s fates into their paws. The trek from Twolegplace to Windclan’s territory had taken most of his strength, causing him to have a hard time following what the cats around him were saying. His voice was still raw from Sootstar’s bite, a wound that had turned out to be deeper than anyone had initially thought. That he survived at all without a medicine cat’s attention was a miracle from Starclan itself.

Standing here now, surrounded by familiar sights and smells, Curlew felt the most at peace he’d been in moons. He wished so deeply to curl up in a nest of moss and dirt and soft moor-grass, surrounded by those he loved. Yet he knew that it would never be the way things had been before he and his mate had been exiled – Scorchstreak’s children were surely grown now, full warriors under Sunstar’s reign, and just from the group in front of him he could see new scars littering his clanmates’ pelts. He wanted to share tongues with them and hear the stories behind each scar, but would they let him? Would he and Badger be allowed to finally return home?

Sunstride was the first cat Curlew really recognized through his exhaustion. The sunlit warrior stood taller than last he’d seen him, as though a heavy weight had been lifted. He spoke few words, but the voice soothed Curlewnose all the same. They hadn’t been chased off immediately, and that must mean that Sootstar was finally gone. Rattleheart, the next cat Curlew perceived, confirmed this. In that moment, the blue-and-white tom collapsed with relief. They were safe, really safe after all this time. Curlew’s paws gave out beneath him and his eyes filled with tears as Badgermoon told their side of the story, leaning heavily against the larger tom. ”We’re home,” he whispered, voice still too scratchy to properly speak. ”We’re finally home.”
​

✦ ★ ✦​

 

[SUNSTAR]

They speak of home, and unease curdles like milk beneath a blazing sun. His chest is full of it. The story that they tell is not unbelievable; he knows better, now, than to trust a word that Sootstar had ever said. Her tale of attack, of the dream that she had ignored mere nights before — now that he looks back upon it, he knows it to be filth. But were the cats before him now better at all? Would they have told the truth, if it did not paint so pretty a picture about who they were? In their story, Badgermoon was an honorable deputy; his decision indisputably the right one, and even knowing this did not wash away the moons he had spent with disdain for what the tom had done. And to hear that they had turned to another clan, to SkyClan during this time. . .

How many moons had Blazestar stood upon that rock and spoke to WindClan, with the knowledge that even more of their clanmates had turned to their borders? That WindClan's former deputy now rested within the walls of their camp? The thought is nearly as unpleasant as Dandelionwish's presence, and he realizes with bitterness that this too he had missed. A rogue to one, a blind attack dog to the other. Those that fled WindClan would always see him as a monster, it would seem. But he looks at Badgermoon now and sees a cat pleading to him for safety, and Curlewnose's distant, hazy appearance. They had escaped Sootstar's clutches so many moons ago, and now they are held within his own.

Swallowing a thought as unpleasant as bile, the leader tears his seaglass gaze from the pair and back towards camp, where it lingers for a long moment. The breeze ruffles his fur, and the scent of his frustration, back towards the pair. Could he blame Sootspot for his rage? How much truth is there in the young warrior's acerbic words? Rattleheart shushes him but he nearly wishes that the tom had been allowed to continue. Perhaps then the pair of them could rise to the bait, be anything but the gleamingly perfect, prodigal pair. He wishes there was weakness in them. When his own heart is torn open and raw — he cannot help but wish that others would share his pain. Yet Badgermoon and Curlewnose have had their moons to process. They would not give him what he needed now.

"Return to camp." His voice leaves no room for dissent. "Our prey has been plentiful since our return; you can eat your fill and speak more on all that you told Blazestar." With a swish of his tail, he turns to lead the patrol back himself. But with a gaze cast back to the pair, he warns, "This is not a return to how things had been, Badgermoon. We will make something new, once you have healed. For now, I ask that you both remain in camp."

⋆°•☁︎ 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝗕𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃  ╱╱ 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝗕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝗕𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 〚 02.11.2024 〛 𖤓

• OOC. —
• 

  SUNSTAR. LEADER OF WINDCLAN.   ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆
  ——– HE – HIM – HIS ╱╱ 48+ MOONS OLD, ADULT.

  NPC x NPC, MOUNTAIN CATS. MATE TO WOLFSONG; FATHER TO BEARPAW, SINGEDPAW, RIVEPAW, SUNLITPAW AND FEATHERPAW. MENTORING RIVEPAW.
  
  TH ╱╱ A LARGE, FRESHLY SCARRED CHOCOLATE AND WHITE ROSETTE TABBY TOM WITH SEAGLASS BLUE EYES

• "speech"

​

 

[Bluepool]

There has never been a moment in time where Bluepool would ever be caught dead groveling. Never would she beg for something like Badgermoon and Curlewnose were doing now, though instead of begging for forgiveness like she had expected them to they instead stand here and beg for mercy, for sanctuary. She listens to his tale, golden eyes narrowed in undisguised suspicion. How much of it was true, she wondered, and how much of it was a fabrication made to play upon Sunstar's better senses? "You were a fool to confront her the way you did" she says, though her voice is soft and the words are followed immediately by a heavy sigh. Could she really blame him for thinking it would go any other way? Still.. She had once thought herself and Badgermoon friends. Why hadn't he come to her? Told her about his suspicions? She would have helped, she likes to think, would have told him the smart move was to lay low, to bide his time like the rest of them had when they first learned that things were falling apart, unravelling like entrails spilled from the belly of prey.

"There is a fresh hare on the pile" she had killed it herself this morning "You are both welcome to it when we get back to camp" its as much of a peace offering as she was willing to make right now. She lets her gaze linger for only a moment longer before she too is turning and heading in the direction of home. She does not bother to check if the pair was accompanying them or not.

​

 

[Badgermoon]

Curlewnose was nearly delirious with fatigue, and Badgermoon felt himself nearing the tunneler's level of exhaustion. Nonetheless, he stood as straight as he could manage as he was addressed by Sunstar - once his friend, now his...captor? Leader? Savior? Perhaps all of those, and more. The blue-eyed tom didn't appear especially comforted by their story, and Badgermoon had to bite back a plea for warmth that he knew would not be forthcoming. Was it not a relief to hear that they had never betrayed their Clan? Was it not a good thing to know that WindClan had two more loyal warriors to its name? Perhaps the intervening time had soured his and Curlewnose's reputation beyond repair.

"Thank you." said the broad bicolor simply, trying to meet Sunstar's oceanic gaze with his own moon-yellow eyes. He helped nudge his companion to his paws and, suppressing a shudder of pure feeling, stepped over the border and onto the moorland proper. Sunstar swung his head back and offered a warning to them both, and for the first time Badgermoon felt a brief stab of anger at the rebel king. How dare he think I'm not aware that things have changed! I spent a whole season away from my children, from my family, my home. I was exiled and branded a traitor, kept as a prisoner, starved on the streets of the Twolegplace. How stupid must he think I am?

He said nothing, swallowing his anger down and attributing it to his weariness, and kept walking. They had not gone more than a handful of pawsteps before Bluepool was addressing him. He was glad to see her, feeling his heart skip a beat or two at the sight of an old friend, and he was inexpressibly thankful that she did not speak with open hostility. You were a fool to confront her the way you did. "I know." Badgermoon meowed, as the wry, twisted ghost of his old merriment crossed his face. He had had moons and moons to consider what he'd done, to plot a thousand different ways he could've approached the false sign, but he would be lying if he said he had faith that any would've ended any better. "Thank you." he repeated to the lead warrior, aware that her offer of a hare was probably the closest thing to a warm reception he could expect. It was better than he'd expected.

"Someone, please," Badgermoon began after only a few moments of silence, "my children. What of them? And Scorchstreak?" he could wait no longer to ask the questions he'd been desperate to hear the answers to for moons, even as he braced himself for what he feared most.​

 

[SOOTSPOT]

He hears the words behind him like crashes of lightning against a certain space at Fourtrees. Stars how he wanted to shut them up, to let him grieve when he'd hid his pain for so long, but from the son of Sootstar, it was forbidden. Perhaps if he had been a son of Sunstar, Rattleheart would not have pulled so hard on his leash, reminded him that his place in WindClan was not as high as it had once been. He sneered towards the Lead Warrior at her admonishment. "You forget I had run and fought to exhaustion, yet was not offered sanctuary amidst WindClan unless I fought more." A look went towards the Lead Warrior, questioning - 'how is this any different?' In many ways, it was worse. The erratic rise and falls of his sides began to slow from a tempest to a drizzle, his gaze ripping away from the other in protest. Chartreuse eyes settled on the ground and he breathed in loudly before exhaling and setting his sights on the former Deputy. I am sorry about your mother, he said, and it was too easy to believe the statement was a lie.

"I do not mourn what is lost, only what could have been." The lash of a tail prompted Sootspot to cover his teeth once more, the top and bottom of his maw pressed together tightly. He listened to Badgermoon talk and repeated the tale within his head, over and over again, doing his best to commit key parts to memory. Even if it did not matter anymore, even if fate had already been weaved and was too strong to claw apart, he wanted to catch the tuxedo on a lie, to make himself feel better at the very least. When Sunstar announced Badgermoon and Curlewnose could return to camp, a grimace passed upon the young warrior's snout... another inevitability, the grief was immediate. He let them walk past him and dreamt of biting down where his mother had and not letting go, he dreamt of the ability to defy his leader and save himself from sharing a den space with these nightmares and found his throat was paralysed. Curses bubbled at the bottom, all the wonderful things he wished he had the strength to back up threatened to spill out, but could not get past the taut barrier of anxiety. It was only when Badgermoon asked of kittens that Sootspot found the power to hurt.

He turned his head slightly. A smile appeared on his muzzle, sorrowful, but for his own plights and not the older tom's. "Most reside within camp, though... one will be your enemy should you meet them again. Rumblerain lacked the love of a second parent and turned to Sootstar to find it. They are with the other loyalists now, surviving on whatever leafbare carrion their fractured group can find."






​

 

[RATTLEHEART]

AS HE RAISED HIS FIST BEFORE HE SPOKE — The weight of the world that had seemingly made a home of her shoulders finally shifted as Badgermoon opened his maw and regaled them with the pair's tale. Her iron grip on the earth underneath her released, and a humorless laugh forced itself up from her maw. "It's a relief to hear that you wouldn't just leave them behind. I didn't want to believe it, but... you know how it was. The grip that she had on everyone." Rattleheart had felt like doubting Sootstar the moment her words had met air, but she hadn't been able to. Not if she hadn't wanted to risk being driven out, or nearly losing her life like the former deputy and Curlewnose had. "I appreciate that you wanted to protect my kin... even if Bluepool was right. It was foolish to confront her with just the two of you." Her words weren't meant to be an insult, even if she did glance at Curlewnose with a faint expression of apology. She simply didn't think the pair of them had had much of a chance of taking on Sootstar, especially at the time - when she hadn't been struggling along on her last life.

Part of her just wanted to ignore Sootspot's words in her direction, knowing that meeting the younger warrior with her own annoyance wouldn't amount to much. Yet still she found herself hissing, her own pale green gaze absent of any of her usual warmth and sympathy. "I haven't forgotten anything, Sootspot. I have not forgotten the way that you ran to us with your tail tucked between your legs when it became clear that staying here would get you killed. You're lucky that you were offered sanctuary at all for your cowardice, at least Badgermoon had the guts to look Soot in the eyes before he turned away from her." There was venom in her voice and bubbling up in her chest, spilling over and souring the air as she glared down at him. "Stop fancying yourself some kind of poor put upon martyr, because you aren't one. And you'll earn more respect if you knock it off." Perhaps she should have been kinder. Perhaps she could have been, if Sootspot hadn't taken the opportunity to use her lost nibling as a cudgel to beat down Bagermoon's spirit. As it was, she was tired of his attitude and the backhanded mutters he sent in the direction of everyone else around him.

Rattleheart's tail was still lashing behind her as she turned, letting out a sigh as she looked between Badgermoon, Curlewnose, and the camp that they had to return to. "Scorchstreak and her children are likely back at camp, including one of our most recently made warriors." Pride finally slipped back into her words as she thought of the newly named Scorchstorm, excited for her niece to be able to tell her returned father about her given warrior name. Hopefully she would actually feel like sharing, instead of shying forcibly away from him thanks to all that had happened. She wasn't sure what would happen, but for now she was done standing at the border and waiting, turning and heading after her fellow lead warrior in leading the pair back to camp.

// out unless stopped !!

THE RIGHTEOUS HAND OF GOD 𓆩♡𓆪 THE DEVIL THAT YOU FORGOT

• 

• 
  ❥ longhaired black and white tom with pale green eyes
  ❥ 48 moons old; ages the 1st every month
  ❥ afab; uses he/she/they pronouns
  ❥ homosexual homoromantic; mated to venomstrike
  ❥ sibling to scorchstreak, lizardbounce, and rabbitclaw
  ❥ currently mentoring downypaw
  ❥ somewhat difficult to befriend; wary but kind
  ❥ "speech", thoughts, attacking
  ❥ peaceful powerplay allowed
  ❥ all opinions are ic

​

 

[SUNSTAR]

"Unless you wish to hash this out with claws rather than your tongues, you will drop this." His slitted gaze is cast back over his shoulder, his tail lashing nearly to either of their noses. Could he blame Rattleheart for their rage? Sootspot spoke as if he had every right to redemption– as if he had earned it already, in the moons his clan had spent driven from their home and desperately seeking herbs to treat their festering wounds. The act of turning from Sootstar was not in itself so grand a task. This the other clans had proven with fervent joy. WindClan would forever be tainted by Sootstar's actions. It is only guilt for what he had done that tempers his reaction to Sootspot. That, and his own lingering resentment towards the cat who had done things so perfectly well.

Could he say as much with the reminder that he had missed most all of his kit's lives? That things had changed within this clan that they could never fully understand again? Had he known of the tuxedo's rage, Sunstar would have bared his own teeth in return. You do not know. You know nothing of what we have been through. Time had passed, yes, but even in sharing their stories, Badgermoon and Curlewnose will forever have missed a chunk of this clan's foundation. And he wonders, in a moment of teetering uncertainty, if he even wants to help them find their footing. An unkind, selfish thought, and he knows it to be just that. "Sootspot. You're quicker than I. Return to camp, and tell Wolfsong that his den will have a visitor before long." Better to send him forward than deal with this all the way through their territory.

His mind instead falls to Scorchstorm, who he hesitates to mention. "I finished your daughter's training in your absence. She has seen and done much worthy of great admiration. Your others as well." Even Rumblerain, whose decision had not been the one he hoped for, had been strong enough to make it alone. There is something to be said in that. Though when he says so, Sunstar's eyes do not leave the frost-crusted ground before his paws. He did not wish to tell more of that story than he must. He falls to comfortable silence and uncomfortable thought as they draw closer and closer to camp. There will be other tongues to tell this tale soon enough.

⋆°•☁︎ 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝗕𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃  ╱╱ 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝗕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝗕𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 〚 02.11.2024 〛 𖤓

• OOC. also out :3c
• 

  SUNSTAR. LEADER OF WINDCLAN.   ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆
  ——– HE – HIM – HIS ╱╱ 48+ MOONS OLD, ADULT.

  NPC x NPC, MOUNTAIN CATS. MATE TO WOLFSONG; FATHER TO BEARPAW, SINGEDPAW, RIVEPAW, SUNLITPAW AND FEATHERPAW. MENTORING RIVEPAW.
  
  TH ╱╱ A LARGE, FRESHLY SCARRED CHOCOLATE AND WHITE ROSETTE TABBY TOM WITH SEAGLASS BLUE EYES

• "speech"

​